


The Tinker and the Thief

by Unlikely_Fortune



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Comics), Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW Comics), Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games)
Genre: Accidental Relationship, Age Difference, Aged-Up Character(s), Eventual Romance, F/M, Slice of Life, Teen Romance, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:08:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27209392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unlikely_Fortune/pseuds/Unlikely_Fortune
Summary: After a particularly rough attack on Emerald Town that destroys Tails' home and lab, Rouge invites him to stay with her until better times. However, like most things in life, what should be a simple situation turns complicated when emotions get added to the mix.
Relationships: Miles "Tails" Prower & Rouge the Bat, Miles "Tails" Prower/Rouge the Bat
Comments: 14
Kudos: 20





	1. Foreword

If you don’t care about the meta context of this fic, then skip ahead to the next chapter.

This work depicts a romantic and intimate relationship between a 13-year-old and an 18-year-old. The goal of this work is to provide an idealized example of the age-gap relationship dynamic to compare against similar situations in real life to help identify and contextualize abuse. It was commissioned as a therapeutic exercise by an individual who was emotionally and sexually abused by their family until adulthood, and is written by an individual who was trafficked as a child and has survived a number of severely abusive relationships.

If you are a casual observer reading the story for fun, you are welcome to enjoy it for what it is and you are encouraged to share your feedback. However, keep in mind: this work was created to help identify incidents or patterns of manipulation and abuse. It was not written to directly support a specific character pairing, to support relationships involving underage persons, or for building recognition of the author. 

The author does not support or condone pedophilia, ephebophilia, Minor Attracted Persons, or whatever hot new term that predators and abusers use to try to normalize their behavior. Anyone who proudly identifies as such is unwanted and unwelcome here. Furthermore, the author encourages anyone feeling any level of intimate or romantic attraction towards real underage individuals to avoid contact with them as much as possible and to seek professional help immediately. If this upsets you, the author advises you to fuck off. This story is not for you.

It is for us.


	2. Emerald Ruins

After surveying the damage, Tails decided that the beachside neighborhood in Emerald Town was a total loss: even though a few houses remained standing, there was no way that their foundations hadn't been cracked or otherwise compromised by the battle against Eggman’s latest doomsday machine. He plopped down on the edge of the checkered plateau and sighed in frustration, pulling his knees to his chest while he tried to organize his thoughts. He was almost grateful for the interruption when he heard someone land behind him.

"Hey there." That was definitely Rouge’s voice. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah, I’m alright. Just frustrated, I guess."

"What’s on your mind?" She sat down beside him, dangling her legs over the cliff edge.

"The town is totally busted."

"Hey, at least nobody got hurt, right?"

"Yeah, and I’m grateful for that." Tails leaned back, laying in the grass and staring aimlessly into the clear blue sky. "Still, my house and my lab are toast."

"Oh, I’m sure you can get a place to stay in Central City."

"That’s not it," he said, shaking his head. "Every time we’ve rebuilt, everything went faster because I had my tools and my mech and my workshop. This time, I’ll be lucky to have ten percent of that." He heaved a great sigh, rubbing his eyes. "I miss when we were the ones leaving Eggman with a mess to clean up, not the other way around."

"Well, look at it this way: it’s because of you and the others that the mess wasn’t worse." Rouge paused. "I tracked you down because of that, actually. I wanted to thank you."

"Huh?" Tails looked up towards Rouge, suddenly realizing that doing so while laying down treated him to a gratuitous view of her backside. He sat up quickly, mildly embarrassed. "Why’s that?"

"Already forgot, huh?" she asked, smirking at him from behind her shoulder.

"I… guess so?"

Rouge giggled. "You pushed me out of the way of that laser, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Tails looked away shyly. "It was nothing."

"So modest!" she said, giggling again. "I guess if you play hero all the time, saving people doesn’t seem like a big deal. Still," she paused, and when she spoke again, her tone was deeply serious: "It wasn’t ‘nothing’ - I wouldn’t be here talking to you if you didn’t save me." Rouge touched his shoulder and their eyes met. "Thank you, sweetheart. I mean it."

"I, uh," Tails stammered, his face suddenly hot. "Sure. I mean… Yeah. You’re welcome." Rouge smiled and ruffled his hair, and he playfully swatted at her hand. "Hey, cut it out!" 

Suddenly, someone shouted "Hey, Tails!" from the base of the cliff. Tails looked over the edge to see a surly-looking Knuckles.

Tails gave him a wave. "Hey, Knuckles!"

Knuckles leaped at the cliffside, latching onto it with his claws and scaling it quickly. As he crested the ledge, he noticed Rouge and stopped climbing to raise an eyebrow. "Surprised you’re not looting the jewelry store."

"Oh, please," Rouge scoffed, rolling her eyes and making a show of examining the nails of her gloves. "Looting takes the fun out of theft."

"Yeah, sure." Knuckles pulled himself up over the ledge and stood, turning to Tails. "So what’s the verdict?"

"Bad news," Tails said, also standing. "We’ll need to rebuild everything, even the remaining structures. Worse news, all of my stuff is trashed, so it’s going to take extra long."

Knuckles grimaced and bashed his fists together in annoyance. "That’s just great."

"The best we can do right now is get started." Tails thought for a moment. "Our first priority should be getting the roads in working order." He pointed at the town below, directing the echidna’s attention to the remains of the eastern road out of Emerald Town. "Starting there, break down the rubble and use it to plug any potholes you can with rocks and dirt. We don’t have any heavy equipment yet, but we’ll need the roads to be usable once we do."

Knuckles nodded. "Will do. Where will you be?"

"Central City. I’ve gotta get a construction crew together so we can get everyone their homes back."

"Got it. I’ll get to it, then." Knuckles turned to Rouge as if he was going to say something, but she was still pointedly ignoring him in favor of her nails. He shook his head and dove off the cliff, gliding towards the street that Tails pointed out to him.

Tails watched Knuckles go, then turned to Rouge. "Well, I’ve gotta get going."

"Hold on, fox boy. I wanted to ask you something," Rouge said, standing up and brushing bits of grass from her legs.

"Hm?"

"I’ve got a pretty well-equipped maintenance bay at Club Rouge to keep the slots rolling and the Guard Robos in shape." She smiled, one hand on her hip. "You wanna use it for a while?"

"I-" Tails stammered, completely stunned. Even a basic garage would be a godsend right now, let alone one equipped to maintain complex robotics! "Yes! Yes, absolutely yes! That would be wonderful!"

Rouge smirked. "That’s what I figured. There’s a catch, though."

Tails froze. "Um?" was all he could manage.

"You gotta crash at Club Rouge too," she said with a wink.

Tails’ speechlessness was quickly followed by exasperated laughter. "Jeez, what kinda catch is THAT?"

Rouge half-shrugged with a smile. "It bugs me when I owe someone. Gotta pay you back for saving me, right? I figure giving you a place to stay is a good start."

"Well, I’m definitely not going to say no."

"Yeah, I figured that too. C’mon, let’s go see what we can get from your place and then we’ll get you set up."

* * *

It was late afternoon when the pair arrived in Night Babylon, finding it to be exceptionally busy with the bored and frustrated Emerald Town evacuees. Rouge felt a pang of guilt when she realized she was instinctively thinking about how all the increased traffic would translate into higher profits, but she forgave herself immediately - the crate full of salvaged equipment she carried was miserably heavy, and the good deed of hauling it all the way from Tails’ lab was worth a few indulgent thoughts. When Club Rouge finally came into view, she set down the crate next to an information post with palpable relief.

"Everything alright?" Tails asked, trotting up beside her with a crate of his own. "It’s not much farther, we can do it!" His enthusiasm was endearing, but Rouge could tell that he was exhausted.

"I’m sure we could, but that doesn’t mean I want to." Rouge stretched and felt like her arms were floating. Skipping upper body day this week was probably safe. "How do you feel about letting my boys take things the rest of the way?" Tails responded by immediately setting down his crate next to hers, causing her to laugh warmly. "I had a feeling you’d see it that way. Keep an eye on our stuff while I go get us some muscle, okay?"

"You got it!" Tails said with a tired smile and a mock salute, hopping up on the larger of the two crates and taking a seat. 

"Good. I’ll be right back."

Rouge weaved into the foot traffic to cut across the busy street, and soon after she arrived at the facade of her establishment. However, the crowd forming around the entrance piqued her curiosity, so she elbowed her way past onlookers to find a heated argument. On one side was a massive goat whose muscled bulk was barely contained in a burgundy smoking jacket, and on the other was an infuriated hamster matron accompanied by a flock of children.

"Ehm’ afraid not, mem," the goat said in warbling voice and a thick accent. "Club Rooj’ has very strict rules about such things. Chil’rens are the responsibility of the parent, an’ mus’ be accompanied at all times."

"Gawd, you couldn’t just let them play pinball, huh? My kids are good!" the hamster shot back, instinctively dragging one of her wandering brood back into the group. "I was only going to leave them alone for five minutes!"

"We’s not a daycare center, mem. An’ besides, ‘s against the law!" He waved a chastising finger to accentuate his point. "We serve alcohol here, don’cha know, an’ it’s i-legal for minors to be aroun’ such an establishment without super-vision."

"FINE! I’ll take them with me when I get a mimosa, now let me back in!"

"No-can-do, mem," he said, adjusting his jacket. "You broke th’ rules, and that means you’re barred from th’ premises fer twenny-four hours."

"WHAT?!" she shrieked. "Okay, you know what? NO. I want to speak to your manager, RIGHT NOW."

"Heh. Mem, I’m the head of security ‘round these parts. Ain’t got no manager. Y’see," the enormous goat leaned forwards, ominously towering over the diminutive woman and her children, "I AM the manager." 

The hamster spluttered for a few moments, then grabbed two of her children and stomped into the crowd, with the remainder of her herd following closely. The goat watched them go, then straightened himself with a satisfied smirk as the spectators dispersed.

With the situation resolved, Rouge took the opportunity to sidle up beside him and pat him on the elbow. "Nicely done, Bruno."

"Why, Miss Rooj’!" Bruno exclaimed, suddenly wearing a genuine smile. "Awful glad to see you, mem. That attack was some nasty business."

"Don't I know it. Say, how many Guard Robos do we have free?"

"Er. About five? Lemme check." He pulled out an oversized tablet and tapped it a few times. "Six, looks like. One jus' finished charging."

"That's plenty. Get four of them out here, I've got some cargo I need hauled into Maintenance."

"Four Guard'bos, comin' right up." Bruno proclaimed, tapping his tablet a few more times. "May I ask what kinda cargo, mem?"

"Tools and spare parts, mostly. I’ve got an engineer friend who wants to set up shop down there."

Bruno gave her an apprehensive look. "That makes me right nervous, mem. Y'know how I am 'bout clearance, 'specially in areas with..." he paused, eyeing some patrons as they wandered out of the club and into the street, "... sensitive items."

"I know, hon," Rouge said, patting his arm reassuringly. "The only reason I didn't ask you to run a check first is because you already have. He's on the short list."

Bruno's brow furrowed as he stared off into the distance and mumbled to himself. "Personal friend, short list, handy..." He blinked and glanced at her. "Miles Prower?"

"Got it in one, big guy."

"Hmmmm, I dunno." Bruno scratched at the base of his horns. "Place like this, ain't legal to hire someone that young."

"Oh, I know. He's a guest, not an employee," Rouge said with a mischievous smile.

"Eh? How’s that?"

"His house and workshop got flattened and," she assumed a lofty expression and a mock-dramatic pose, "being the MAGNANIMOUS pillar of the community that I happen to be, I offered him a place to stay and space to work so he can contribute to reconstruction like he usually does." Then she shrugged. "Besides, he’s thirteen - that’s old enough to be unattended here as long as he’s not trying to get drunk."

"S’pose that puts us in the clear, then." Bruno rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Still, them homes ain't gonna take long to get fixt, but his lab will. Are we okay with him hangin’ around in the meantime?"

"Of course," Rouge said with a smirk and a hand on her hip. "Why would I have a problem with an altruistic genius hanging around my outdated Guard Robos?"

Bruno’s eyes went wide as understanding dawned on him. "Oooooh. Shrewd, mem. Very, very shrewd." He paused as something occurred to him. "But, eh. He gets tied up in hero business quite often, and even if things are quiet for a stretch, there’s no guarantee that he’ll do anything with the Guard’bos in his off time."

Rouge shrugged. "If that’s how it turns out, we’re not any worse off than we were before."

"That’s true." Bruno tugged at his beard as he thought silently for a few moments. "A’right, I’m mostly on board, but I gots one last concern."

"It’s what I pay you for."

"Where’s he gonna be stayin’? Club Rooj’ ain’t no hotel."

"I’ve got a spare bedroom in the Penthouse Suite."

Bruno gave her a pointed look. "An’ you’re comfortable with him havin’ access to yer penthouse, where you got all yer gadgets an’..." he paused to smile at a patron who happened to be passing by, "... eh, ‘commission’ information?"

"Of course. As a matter of fact, I was planning on asking him for feedback on some of my tools."

"Hmmm. Well, if’n you’re sure," he said with a shrug. "Still, I’mma keep an eye on him for my own peace of mind."

"I expected as much." Rouge grinned. "After all, we’ve gotta keep him away from the booze, right?"


	3. Moving In

"Are ya winning, hon?"

Tails looked up from the Miles Electric to see Rouge approaching with four weathered Guard Robos. "I don't think you can 'win' an inventory, but if you can, I'm definitely not." He hopped down from his perch and gestured to his tablet. "I've been clearing out my resource lists so I don't try to rely on stuff I don't have anymore."

"Try not to sweat it too much, I'm sure you'll find plenty to work with here." Rouge tapped the chassis of the lead Guard Robo and then pointed to the crates. "Those boxes, please." It stared silently for a moment, then moved towards the cargo with its companions in tow.

"Not a very talkative bunch, huh?"

"Most people weren't going to buy them for their company, so Eggman didn't bother." Rouge shrugged. "Still, they're pretty dependable despite the cut corners." She turned and started walking towards Club Rouge. 

Tails fell in beside her, watching the Guard Robos hoist the crates and begin following. "It's always bugged me that people actually bought these from Eggman. I mean, didn't they know that they were funding a bad guy?"

"Probably not. He used multiple shell companies, registered through a network of aliases and third parties - real black market stuff. Of course, it didn't help that they don’t really look like anything he usually builds."

"I guess that’s true. His ‘bots are usually an animal-themed Badnik or an Egg Pawn variant." Tails scratched his head. "Have you checked them for backdoors?"

"Oh, absolutely. I can’t speak for everyone else, but the first thing we did when we got our order in was to take them apart and double-check everything." Rouge winked. "Working for a paranoid government agency has its perks sometimes."

As they approached the entrance to Club Rouge, someone shouted "Why, Misser Prower!" Tails saw a huge goat approaching them, palm extended for a handshake. "Right pleased to finally meet’cha! Heard lots'a good things about you, young man."

Tails took the offered hand and was surprised by how gentle the muscled goat’s handshake was. "Just ‘Tails’ is fine, um…?"

"Bruno, ser." He straightened himself and adjusted his jacket. "Head ’a security ‘round these parts."

"He’s closer to the proprietor of the Club itself, if we’re being honest," Rouge added. "He’s got more authority than I do in most cases."

"Now now, don’t go playin’ up my contribution, I just keep things runnin’ day to day. Still, if’n you ever need anything, you jes’ lemme know."

"I’ll keep that in mind, thank you!"

"Good. Fer now though, you should get along with the Guard’bos - spooks the customers when they loiter ‘round the entrance, y’see."

Tails tried to stammer an apology, but Rouge was already steering him inside. "We’ll see you later, Bruno!" she called over her shoulder.

* * *

As they passed the threshold and arrived on the main floor, Tails was starkly reminded just how big Club Rouge was. Even more than that, he was reminded of just how dazzling it was: everywhere there were flashing lights or pulsing arrows or glowing signs or chiming slots or glittering tables or-

"You doing okay there?" Rouge leaned into his line of sight. "You’re wobbling."

Tails closed his eyes for a moment to steady himself. "I always get a little overwhelmed in places like this at first." He opened his eyes to find that the glitz and glam didn’t seem so bad anymore. "I’m good now, though."

"If it makes you feel better, you won’t have to deal with it very much," Rouge said as she waved to one of the dealers as they passed. "You can use the service entrances to get in and out of the building once we get you your ID. Though, if you DO wind up on the main floor for some reason, do me a favor and try to avoid the tables - drinks are free for players, and I don’t want to have to deal with someone making a stink about a minor being around alcohol."

"That probably won’t be happening. Sonic’s the gambler, not me."

"Really, now? He didn’t strike me as the type."

"He couldn’t help picking it up after we’ve been through so many places with slots and stuff." Tails started counting off his fingers as he spoke. "There was Casino Night, Carnival Night, Studiopolis, Cosmic Casino, Casino Street, Casinopolis, Casino Paradise, Casino Park," he paused for a breath before continuing, "SEGA Carnival, Night Carnival, Sky Park, Neon Palace, Eggmanland, Casino Forest, Luminous Forest, and part of the Frozen Factory in the Lost World." When he saw Rouge’s expression of amazement and concern, it reminded him of one other: "Oh, and there was that giant floating slot machine that Eggman put in one of the Star Post zones on Angel Island. We lost at least a hundred rings every time we were in there for more than a minute."

Rouge was so busy staring in disbelief that she had stopped walking entirely. "I don’t know how to respond to that."

Tails shrugged. "Just because he likes it doesn’t mean he’s good at it."

"No, I mean you just... listing them off." Rouge caught up with a few quick strides. "I think you said one twice, actually."

"Carnival Night and Night Carnival are two completely different places," Tails responded without thinking, then laughed awkwardly. "Can you tell it's a conversation I've had before?"

"Only a little. So, does that mean I need to keep Sonic out of here for his own good?"

"No, thankfully. He sees it as more of a hobby than anything else - he'll blow whatever rings he's got on him for fun, but he'll call it quits if he wins big or bottoms out."

"At least he doesn’t overdo it." As they walked out of the main floor, Rouge gestured towards the restaurant that dominated the rear quarter of the Club. "On a completely different subject, the kitchens run 24 hours. Once you get your ID, you can use it to get food delivered anywhere and anytime as long as you're in the Club." 

"Oh, excellent." His stomach rumbled in response to the aromas drifting by. "Could use that now, actually."

"I've got you covered, short stuff," Rouge said with a nudge. "I already ordered dinner for us both, we'll eat at the end of the tour." She brought the procession to a door labeled 'EMPLOYEES ONLY' and held it open for Tails and the Guard Robos to pass through. After it swung closed, Rouge led them into a freight elevator and keyed it to descend.

"So Maintenance is in the basement?"

"Yep. I like to keep the heavy equipment underground. Less distance to fall if it gets knocked over, and all that."

When the elevator came to a halt and the door opened, they were greeted by a group of guards training wispons at them at the end of a long hallway. "How’s the weather?" one of them called.

"I’m happy to be outside," Rouge replied smoothly.

Immediately, the guards relaxed and lowered their weapons. "Good evening, y’all. What brings you to Rodney’s humble basement?"

"You’re getting a neighbor - Tails here is moving in for a while."

"Well, I’ll be," Rodney said, thumbing his cap. "Pleased to have ya, hero. Ya going to be fixing up the clunkers for us?"

"Not exactly," Rouge cut in before Tails could respond. "I invited him here to replace his lab so he can help rebuild Emerald Town."

"Yeah, I heard it got pretty flattened. Well, don’t let me keep you," Rodney said, waving them through.

After they passed the guard’s position and took a turn, Tails was greeted with one of the most beautiful sights he'd ever seen: 'maintenance bay' didn't even come close to describing this place. This place was MASSIVE! Spreading out into the horizon were workbenches and tool racks and mechanical arms and lifts and lathes and- was that a PARTICLE FORGE? Even at its best, his lab only had maybe HALF of this stuff!

"So," Rouge said smugly, "is my little garage good enough for you?"

Tails whipped around, stars in his eyes. "I get to use ALL THIS?"

"As long as you like." Rouge patted one of the Guard Robos and pointed at a nearby workbench. "Over there, please. You're off-duty afterwards." Tails moved to follow, but Rouge tapped him on the shoulder. "Tour's not over, sweetie."

"But-"

"No buts. It's been a long day and you need a break before throwing yourself at this."

Tails looked back at the massive workshop and back to Rouge. "But-!"

"Do you really want to do substandard work because you're tired and hungry?"

Tails' stomach growled, almost as if it was in response to Rouge's question. Shoulders slumping, he admitted defeat. "No ma'am."

"Don’t look so down, it’ll still be here. C'mon."

"I’m just eager to get started, you know?"

"Nothing wrong with that, but you’ve gotta make sure you’re ready for it first." They passed by the guards and returned to the elevator, sending it trundling upwards. "Those people are counting on you, so you need to be at full strength so you can do your best."

"That’s true."

"So, next stop is Admin on the second floor - there’s a package I need to get out of my office. Admin is also where the security center is located, but that's a visit we can do some other time. It’s usually where you can find Bruno if he’s not at the entrance."

"Is he at the entrance often?"

"Not often, but when we have to eject troublesome customers, he prefers to handle it himself."

"Why’s that?"

"If you asked him, he’d say it was a perk of the job. The real reason is that he doesn’t want anyone under his command getting hurt."

The elevator doors slid open upon reaching its destination, revealing another long hallway with another group of guards aiming at them. "What’s that racket?"

"Randy Rebecca Rabbit!" Rouge accentuated her response with twin finger-guns.

Just like before, the guards stood down in response. "Good evening, ma’am. Sir," the one who called out said, nodding towards them.

"Heya, Mark." Rouge began walking down the hallway with Tails in tow. "Anything to report?"

"The boss has been throwing people out all day." Mark shrugged. "Smooth sailing outside of that, but we’re on standby just in case - the refugees doubled the usual population of Night Babylon."

She patted Mark’s arm as they passed. "Keep up the good work, boys."

"Yes ma’am!" the guards said in unison, saluting.

Tails looked back at the guards after they passed, seeing that they had resumed their watch of the elevator. "Is security always this tight?"

"It’s a casino, honey. You don’t get much more secure than that."

"I’ve been in a lot of casinos, and I haven't seen anything like that before."

"REAL casinos," Rouge said with a wink. "Plus, this is technically a secret government base, so the stakes are a little higher than some misplaced rings."

"Wait. A government base?"

"Mhm. I talked them into hardening Club Rouge so it could safely store ‘sensitive materials’. You wouldn’t know it by looking, but this is probably one of the most secure locations in the world." They came upon a plain door, simply labeled ‘OFFICE’, and Rouge grasped the knob for several seconds before twisting it. "Silent scan," she explained before opening it. "Hold the door for me?"

"Sure!" As Tails moved to keep the door open, he got a look inside. Rouge's office was modest in size, evenly lit, and sparsely decorated; almost the exact opposite of the establishment's gaudy facade. The floor was dominated by a large black desk facing the door, and it was backed by a comfortable-looking office chair that was mirrored by two smaller chairs for guests on the opposite side. Aside from a water cooler in the corner, the walls were lined with wooden filing cabinets that had various collections of framed photographs and certificates mounted above them. Tails recognized a few of the photos - he was in several of them, along with many of his friends.

Rouge approached the desk and examined the three packages that had been left there - a cylinder, a box, and an envelope. "Looks like I've got some homework," she said, tucking the box under her arm and pocketing the envelope. "Do you mind if I look it over while we eat?"

"Not at all." Tails fidgeted. "When will that be, by the way?"

Rouge stepped past Tails into the hallway. "Just one more elevator ride. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna let you starve."

They walked for a while longer, stopping every now and then to give passwords to guards that they encountered. Soon enough, they came upon a large circular elevator that was ringed by lights - and, by Tails’ estimation, located at the center of Club Rouge itself. Rouge touched a panel on the opposite wall, and it began ascending quickly but smoothly. As it came to a stop, Tails realized that they were standing in the living room of a sizable apartment. "Well, we're here - last stop of the tour, and where you'll be staying."

Tails found the penthouse suite to be reasonably decorated in a mix of modern and classic styles: sleek and utilitarian surfaces were complimented by elegant and comfortable seating, and the soft lighting illuminated the space without being intrusive. Overall, it was a very efficient-looking living space, but also a very inviting one. "Wow, this is… really, really nice."

"Glad you like it!" Rouge placed the box on the dining table and sat down. "Now get over here, I'm hungry."

Tails trotted over and was immediately handed the envelope that he saw Rouge pocket earlier. He opened it, revealing a glossy green rectangle. "What's this?"

"Your ID. The button is on the side."

Tails slid it out of the envelope and found the button with his thumb. Clicking it produced a holographic interface dominated by a blinking window that read 'ORDER READY', featuring a cartoonish illustration of a chicken drumstick on a plate. He poked experimentally at the hologram, causing the ID to begin emitting a beam of light that projected a yellow circle on the ceiling while the text changed to 'PLEASE USE VALID SURFACE'. He shot Rouge a quizzical look.

"Point it at the table, hon."

Tails aimed the ID at the table like a remote, and suddenly a golden ring of energy formed horizontally across the tabletop. It swelled in size, took on a metallic sheen, rose into the air, and then disintegrated - leaving behind two plates of steaming food and an assortment of glistening beverages in its wake. Tails was utterly shocked. "Was that a Warp Ring?!"

"Yep," Rouge said, claiming the plate of chicken alfredo and a glass of pinot gringo. "We developed a supercomputer that can manifest and control them, but it has limited range and capacity. Still, handy for in-house delivery, right?" she said with a wink.

Tails slumped in his chair, staring at the innocent-looking rectangle in disbelief. "You miniaturized a supercomputer capable of making Warp Rings and use it for food delivery."

"Nope," Rouge responded between bites. "The IDs are LINKED to the supercomputer. The IDs themselves are fairly standard security holo-tablets with a few extra programs." She pointed at him with her fork. "We can talk about it later, though - your food is getting cold."

At the mention of food, Tails snapped out of his stupor and actually paid attention to the meal in front of him: a cheeseburger and fries served with a shake and a glass of water. Starkly reminded of his hunger, he began eating, relishing the flavors of his dinner. He nearly swooned when his experimental sip of the shake revealed it to be mint-chocolate.

"Good?" It was obvious Rouge could tell how much he was enjoying himself - and it was also obvious that she was proud of it.

"Mm-hmm. It's perfect."

"Glad to hear doing my homework paid off."

Tails paused mid-bite. "You researched my favorite foods?"

"Of course. I've gotta be a good host, after all."

He considered it, then shrugged. "Well, I definitely appreciate it. I haven't had one of these in forever."

Rouge smiled at him, then opened the box from her office. Her smile quickly became a profound grimace when she pulled out a thick folder branded with 'TOP SECRET - ASSIGNMENT DETAIL'. "Oh boy. I can already tell this is going to be a pain."

"Hmm?"

"There's way too much to this file. There's no way that it's all relevant." She opened the folder and began flipping through it, her expression souring further with each page. "Yeah, they just grabbed everything related to the target instead of the important stuff. I hate when they do this." Rouge sighed. "At least it’s not an absolute deadline."

"What would that mean?"

"Absolute deadlines can't be changed because the job is time-sensitive, like snatching a weapon before it gets sold or rescuing a hostage." Rouge closed the folder and set it aside. "Thankfully it’s just a lift from a private collection, so I’ve got plenty of time to sort through it."

Tails finished his burger and began working through his remaining fries. "I’d offer to help, but I’m pretty sure I don’t have Top Secret clearance."

"Yeah, I’d have a hard time explaining that one," Rouge said, pushing away her empty plate. "I trust you, sure, but the government is pretty wary of you and the others."

"Hold on, let me guess -" Tails held up a finger and closed his eyes in an imitation of the President. "We’re ‘dangerous and unpredictable’?"

Rouge giggled. "The official designation is ‘Altruistic Unaligned Actors’, but yes. They get very worried about people they can’t control."

Tails’ eyebrows rose. "And the World’s Greatest Thief is someone they can control?"

"Mmm, they think so. I see it as more of a mutually beneficial arrangement, myself - they get whatever baubles they can’t live without, I get fun jobs and highly advanced experimental tech for Club Rouge." She finished her wine and replaced the empty glass with the water that had arrived with it. "Honestly, the Warp Generator is only about ten percent of what we’ve convinced them to build for us. We’ve got self-sustaining zero-yield stasis fields, too." She smirked as she swirled her water. "Guess what we use them for."

Tails looked at the remains of the meal that they had just eaten, then regarded Rouge with a deadpan expression. "You’re going to say food, aren’t you."

"Yep! Can’t get a better preservative than stopped time," she said with a mischievous grin. "We replaced the refrigerators with ‘em and cut our food waste almost entirely. Then one of the cooks got the bright idea to use smaller fields to keep orders hot until they were ready to serve, so we started using them for that too." 

"And that’s why it was steaming hot when it came in," Tails said, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

"Mm-hmm." Rouge took a sip of water, smirking behind her glass. "We’ve got better food quality than the world-class restaurant down the street, and it drives them absolutely insane. They keep trying to send spies in to get a look at our kitchen."

"So, wait. If you’ve got all of this crazy tech, why are your Guard Robos in such rough shape?"

Rouge rolled her eyes, sighing in annoyance. "Noticed that, huh? The government won’t contribute any manpower towards working on the Guard Robos because they’re ‘not from a trusted source’, which is code for ‘we’re upset that you’re using Eggman robots instead of the government-issue GUN robots’. The problem is that GUN’s robotics aren’t nearly as good as the doctor’s, and we can’t get any engineers capable of doing anything with Guard Robos past the background check." She leaned back in her chair, staring at the ceiling. "The best we can do is put the Guard Robos in their power stations and rely on their internal repair modules. It keeps them running, but they can't repair major damage, so it’s hardly a long-term solution."

Tails crossed his arms and and thought for a moment. Maybe-

"Anyways," Rouge said, standing and stretching. "Dishes are easy, you just send them back with your ID. While you’re doing that, I’m going to go change into something more comfortable, then I’ll finish showing you around." She pushed her dishes to the middle of the table and then got up, disappearing into one of the rooms.

Tails pulled out his ID, finding an icon in the lower right of the holographic menu that depicted a bone on a plate. Poking it caused the ID to emit the same circular projection beam as before, and ‘PLEASE TARGET DISHES’ popped up in the display. After a quick arrangement of the remaining empty dishes into a single grouping, he aimed the ID at them - and almost immediately, a miniature Warp Ring appeared, whisking them away.

"Gosh, that’s cool," Tails muttered.


	4. Getting Settled

"Isn’t it, though?"

Tails found that Rouge had indeed changed - instead of her usual outfit of armored spandex, she was wearing a black crop top and loose-fitting black pajama pants. Even though it was technically less revealing than her usual form-fitting attire, Tails found himself blushing hotly at the sight. Thankfully, if Rouge noticed his embarrassment, she didn’t show it.

"So, that’s my room," she said, pointing at the door she just exited from. "That’s Shadow’s room," she said, pointing at another.

"Wait, Shadow lives here?"

"Pft, no way. I just always keep a room open for him here, in case he passes out on me again and I need a place to dump him." She winked. "Friends don’t let friends take naps in the street, after all."

Tails decided that it was best not to mention that he and Sonic had done exactly that.

"Anyways. Kitchen’s over there if you want to make something yourself. That’s your room," she said, pointing to the room next to hers. "That’s the guest bathroom," she said as she pointed to another, "and that’s the Armory," she said as she pointed to a large black door that dominated a wall all on its own.

"... the Armory?"

"Uh-huh. Here, lemme show you." The black door slid open automatically as she approached, revealing a large room full of equipment. Various suits stood at attention in display cases, racks were loaded down with tools and gadgets, and worktables were covered in devices and spare parts. Rouge posed in the doorway, arms wide. "Welcome to my Armory, where I keep all of my cool spy stuff."

"Wooooow!" If Tails hadn’t been spoiled by the awesomeness of Maintenance, the Armory would’ve been the coolest thing he’d ever seen. He wandered in, taking in the sights, but deliberately kept his hands to himself - he didn’t want to interfere with Rouge’s workspace. "You make all of your own stuff?"

"Only a little bit of it. I do make a point to figure out how anything I use works on my own, though - I can’t trust equipment that I don’t know."

"That’s really cool!" Tails kept wandering between the tables, and Rouge followed him. Then something caught his eye: a table full of grappling guns - some shattered, some pristine. "What’re these?"

"Hmm?" Rouge walked over. "Oh, those. I can’t figure out what’s wrong with them - most of the time they work perfectly, sometimes they come apart in my hands. I pulled the entire stock to try and figure out what was up, but I haven’t had the time to make much headway."

"May I?" Tails motioned towards the table.

"Have at it."

Tails compared several of the broken grappling guns, noticing a consistent pattern between points of failure. "What does 'work perfectly' mean for these?"

"They launch, hold, and retract okay, and they sustain heavy loads just fine. All of the issues have come from swinging, but only sometimes."

"Hmm." Tails picked up one of the functional ones. "Is there anywhere I can test this?" Rouge pointed at the ceiling, which Tails noticed had a squared off section pock-marked with divots. He fired the grappling gun upwards and, after the bolt lodged itself into the concrete, he gave it an experimental tug. It held firm. "What happens when they break?"

"They just fall apart, like they were glued together and suddenly they weren't anymore."

"Any pattern to how they fall apart?"

"There's a ping and then they split right down the middle."

"Oh, then I know exactly what the problem is." He twisted the grappling gun sideways, torquing the line. With a crack-ping, the gun disintegrated: the housing split in half, the mechanism shattered, the bolt fell, and the spooled line ejected itself onto the floor. "The failure comes from the barrel reinforcement being in the wrong place. Or rather, for the wrong direction." He dumped out the remaining guts of the ruined gadget and pointed towards the sheared structures within the shell. "It can handle longitudinal forces very well, but any lateral force is going to strain the internal supports and pop them right out of place. Since the spring motor is held in place by those supports, it also falls out of place, then unleashes all of its stored energy against the structure when the cable gets pulled off-track. The end result is, well." Tails spread his hands, making a small ‘boom’ to emphasize his point. 

"... You’re kidding me. The problem is that they can’t do side-to-side?"

"Yep. The good news is, the fix is pretty simple: all you need is some external structural reinforcement." He grabbed an undamaged grappling gun and looked around, quickly spotting what he was searching for. After swiftly applying it to the device, he took aim, fired it into the ceiling, and began yanking the line and twisting the gun every which way - notably without the rapid disassembly that the previous one had suffered.

Rouge couldn’t believe what she was seeing, and it showed. "... So, let me get this straight. The solution to the problem that I’ve been having for MONTHS..." 

"Is just some duct tape, yeah." Tails thumbed the release, retracting the line and snapping the bolt back into place. "Of course, a PROPER fix would be redesigning the frame so it doesn't have a massive weakness, but two or three layers of tape will work just fine in the meantime. You might hear a bit of rattling after multiple uses, though - it's still going to be breaking a little bit, so there are probably going to be little chips floating around inside." He looked up to see her staring at him, dumbfounded. Suddenly he felt very self-conscious. "Sorry, I, uh. I mean-"

"Tails, the engineers swore that the only way I was breaking them was because I was using them as hammers. You figured out the issue - and fixed it - in less than five minutes." She pulled him into a tight hug, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and burying his face in her chest. "You just saved me from SO MUCH hassle, sweetheart. Thank you so, SO much."

To his credit, Tails didn’t freak out too badly when he was suddenly buried in Rouge’s cleavage, and even managed to respond with a muffled "no problem" - but he was pretty sure she could feel the heat radiating off of him from how hard he was blushing. When she released him from the embrace, he immediately went to the table to set down the grappling gun so maybe it wouldn't be so obvious how flustered he was. The soft chuckle coming from Rouge informed him that his plan had failed.

Rats. Plan B.

"So, hey!" Tails spun around, both thumbs up. "Feeling way better after eating! Gonna go down to Maintenance to get some work done!"

"Oh, honey," Rouge sighed with a smile. "Are you sure you don't want to take the night off? You've already done a lot today."

"And the people of Emerald Town have lost a lot today," Tails said, his eyes sparkling with determination. "I want to help as much as I can, and that means getting out there with a mech as soon as possible."

Rouge considered him for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, alright. How about I come hang out with you, then?"

Tails froze. "Wait. You want to come with me?"

"Would that be a problem?"

"No, no! Not at all! I'm just…" He fidgeted as he searched for the right words. "Not used to having company."

"Well, I've never seen a genius in a garage, so I wanna check it out. Plus, I've got all these grappling guns I need to 'upgrade', you know? I figure I should have you nearby in case I need someone to show me how it's done."

"Oh, I'm sure you could figure it out."

"I dunno," she said in mock seriousness. "Duct tape is pretty complicated." That got a laugh out of him, and she smiled. "C'mon, I'll show you how to use your ID to get down there."

"Y’know, these things are a little too versatile to just be called 'identification' cards," Tails said as they walked out of the Armory.

"That’s not what ID stands for. Inter-something-something Device. Bruno came up with it, you’ll have to ask him." She winked. "Still usable for identification, though." She went over to a part of the living room wall that had a circle of nodes set into it and a portion of the floor sectioned away underneath it. "Just pick Travel next to one of these and choose where you want to go."

Tails pulled out his ID, quickly finding the associated program and selecting 'Maintenance'. Shortly after, a ring of golden energy began manifesting along the nodes. "Warp Rings again? I thought you said they were limited in capacity."

"They are. The nodes stabilize them, allowing them to manifest in larger sizes. They’re not as big as the real deal, but you can move people through them pretty easily."

True to Rouge’s assertion, the Warp Ring that manifested was big enough to comfortably fit someone twice Tails’ size. When they passed through it, Tails found himself in the same long hallway to Maintenance that they had been in before - and once again, they were in the sights of the guards’ wispons. "Seventeen Twenty-Two," Rodney called.

"It’s a gift from me to you," Rouge replied.

"Twice in one day!" Rodney exclaimed as the guards relaxed. "You’re making ol’ Rodney feel popular, Miss Rouge."

"Don’t get too worked up, I’m going to be through here a few more times tonight."

"Shucks, I dunno if my heart will be able to take all that excitement. Get along, then."

After they passed the guards and returned to Maintenance, Tails walked over to the workstation that his crates had been placed by. "I still can’t get over how big this place is."

"Got the space, might as well use it. Go ahead and start without me, I’ve gotta pack up all of those grappling guns and get them down here."

"Sure thing!" Tails waved. "See you in a bit!"

* * *

When Rouge returned twenty minutes later, she found that Tails had unpacked both crates and had begun constructing… something. She set down the cases of grappling guns on a nearby table and pulled up a stool. "Already started, huh?"

"Yep. I figured I’d put together the spare parts from my lab first and then build what I was missing." He leaned back from his mess of parts to give something an appraising look, then leaned back in. Shortly thereafter, something went ‘thunk’. "Well, the drivetrain’s in place."

"Yeah? What are you building, anyways?"

"Legs for the mech. Well, more of a crotch, really." He stood up, pulling out the Miles Electric and hooking a cable into his contraption. What Rouge previously thought were fins turned out to be stubby legs, levering up and down as Tails fiddled with his tablet. "It’s actually the most complicated part, so I’m glad that I don’t have to start from scratch there."

"Well hey, that’s good." Rouge popped open the first case and began examining a grappling gun. "Two layers, you said?"

"Two should be enough, three if you’re planning on riding it hard. The barrel is the most important part to secure because that's where the lateral forces are being applied to the rest of the gun."

"I’ll go with three to be safe. I prefer to overdo my prep in case something goes wrong."

"Same here, actually. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it, right?"

"Ugh, definitely. I forgot to bring noisemakers for a mission once. I thought, ‘not a big deal, I’ll just throw a rock or something’." Rouge finished wrapping the first grappling gun and picked up another. "I spent two hours laying on a wet roof because I didn’t have anything to distract the guards. I had to wait for them to rotate patrols, wound up missing my window, and had to wait another eight hours crammed in a vent for another opportunity. I only should’ve been there for thirty minutes, tops, but I wound up spending twelve hours."

Tails made a sympathetic noise while he ratcheted away. "Was it worth it, at least?"

"Well, it was a mission, so it doesn’t really matter. I got the job done, and that’s what was important."

"That’s fair, I guess." Something went ‘clang’ and Tails responded with a frustrated grunt. "Hey, I wanted to ask you something."

"What’s on your mind?"

"What happens when you’re not around and I need to get somewhere? Am I going to have to learn all of those passwords?"

"No, that’s just for me and Bruno." The second gun she wrapped looked better than the first. She couldn’t decide if that frustrated her or not. "There’s a lot of sensitive material here that only he and I have access to, and we want to keep it out of the wrong hands. The passwords stop impostors before they get anywhere important and can alert the guards to hostage situations."

"Uh." Whatever Tails was doing, he stopped. "Did you say ‘hostage situations’?"

"Like if they make us lead them to the vaults or something. Each password call has a range of coded responses, so we can use them to communicate things like ‘set up an ambush’ or ‘sabotage and evacuate’ without tipping off the intruder. It’s saved us a couple times."

"How often does that kinda stuff happen?"

"Rarely, these days. It was pretty common when Club Rouge was new, though." Rouge finished wrapping another gun and took a moment to massage her sore arms. "Bruno wasn’t on the team in those days, and everyone had real big ideas about how they were going to break into the vault of the World’s Greatest Thief and steal what I already rightfully stole." She turned and smirked at him. "Most of them weren’t expecting a high kick that could send them through a wall, though. When word got out about that, things quieted down a bit."

"I can imagine something like that would discourage people from trying." Tails grabbed a wrench and resumed working. 

"For most, yes. Some, however, liked the idea of the extra challenge." She was definitely getting better at it as she went along. Was it worth redoing the early ones? "Instead of low-level chumps that thought I would be an easy mark because I was settling down, I started getting the big-name creeps that liked things rough."

"Ugh."

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Nobody’s managed to get into the vaults yet though, so at least it wasn’t wasted effort."

"Mm." Tails yawned quietly.

"Hey, do you mind if I ask you something?"

"What’s up?"

"Why was your house in the shape of your head?"

"It wasn’t my idea," he said with embarrassed laughter.

"I figured that. Your ego isn’t as big as Sonic’s." That got a snicker out of him. "Still, what’s the story behind it?"

"I saved a little girl from a Badnik once, and her dad was an architect. He was so grateful, he designed it as ‘a statue that you could live in’." He paused, then continued after something made a snapping noise. "It was pretty weird at first, but I got used to it. I never had the heart to tell him that I lived in the lab right down the street."

"I get that. I mean, declining a gift is hard enough, but a whole house?"

"Yeah, right?" He yawned again. "You couldn’t hang pictures because the walls were all curved, but it was pretty nice otherwise. Gonna miss that place, though. It was one of the better ones."

"What do you mean?"

"What ‘bout?"

"You said ‘one of the better ones’."

"Oh, that. Yeah, I have workshops and garages all over the place. Only way I can keep up with Eggman, really." Tails was shuffling something around, but Rouge was too busy focusing on wrapping to do more than wonder. "Can’t throw a plane together using junk on-hand," he muttered.

Rouge finished wrapping the last grappling gun from the first case, and was pleased to find that the extra bulk from the tape didn’t interfere with the case closing. She turned to say something about it to Tails - and saw him curled up on a worktable with a red blanket, dozing. "Tails!"

"Mm?"

"Were you going to SLEEP in here?"

"‘s fine."

"Oh, no. No, no, no no no. No guest of mine is going to sleep on a bench." Rouge went over to him and grabbed his shoulder, squeezing it lightly. "C’mon, we’re getting you to bed."

"Gotta be here so I can get to work when I wake up," he mumbled.

"Uh-uh. It won’t be the end of the world if you take an extra ten minutes to get you back down here." She jostled him a little, and he opened his eyes blearily. "Come on, sweetie." That managed to get him to uncurl and hop down with his blanket wrapped around him. She led him to one of the Warp Node Stations and snapped her fingers to activate the voice recognition. "Penthouse." Almost immediately, a Warp Ring manifested, and they stepped through to the penthouse living room.

"Y’can do that without an ID?" Tails slurred, swaying on his feet.

Poor thing. He’s been pushing himself. "Yeah. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow, okay?" She opened the bedroom door, steering the drowsy fox into the dark. When he bumped into the soft mattress, he climbed on without prompting and allowed Rouge to pull the covers around him. "You good?"

"Mmmhmm," was all he could manage in response. 

Her heart skipped a beat when he nuzzled into his blankets - it was almost criminal how cute he was. She gave him a kiss on the forehead and whispered "G’night, sweetheart. Let me know if you need anything." He replied with a mumble of non-words and shuffled, already asleep.

Rouge silently made her way out of the room, taking extra care to close the door quietly behind her. However, when she turned back to the living room, she realized something was off. Tensing, she took two steps forward cautiously - then whipped around as she realized what she had done:

She had been on autopilot, and put Tails to bed in HER room.

Rouge rubbed her forehead and sighed deeply. It’s fine, he’s not going to be weird about it, it's been a long day, just let it go. She considered sleeping in another room, but decided against it - even though this was her home, sleeping in his room seemed like a breach of privacy, and she didn’t want to run the risk of inducing mega-brooding from Shadow if he somehow found out.

No, stop. This isn’t a useful line of thought. Just sleep on the couch and don’t be a diva about it. Rouge grabbed a spare blanket and pillow from the linen closet and was about to lay down when the mission intel folder caught her eye. She paused for a moment, weighing her options.

Eh, whatever. It’s not like she was tired yet. She tossed the pillow and blanket on the couch and sat down at the table, opening the folder and getting to work.


	5. Heavy Lifting

Normally, Tails wouldn't have noticed that he didn't recognize where he was when he woke up - with all of the adventuring that he did with Sonic, staying anywhere long enough for that was rare. However, for some reason, the unfamiliar sensation of being nestled into the most comfortable bed he'd ever been in threw his groggy mind into a blind panic. He bolted upright, frantically looking around his dark prison... only to sigh in exasperation when his memory caught up and informed him that he was in no danger whatsoever. He flopped back against the pillow and stared into the blackness looming above him while he collected his thoughts.

At least it wasn't camping out in Green Hill. Again.

Tails had planned on dozing for a while longer, but his stomach informed him that it was time for breakfast. He swung his legs over the edge of the mattress and was surprised to see the room lighting up in response: strips of hot pink illuminated the borders of the floor, highlighting the furniture and the walls in a soft glow that made it easy to navigate the otherwise total darkness. He scooted back into bed out of curiosity, and shortly afterwards the outlines gently faded into nothing.

Motion sensors. Neat.

His curiosity sated, he hopped out of bed and wandered out into the living room. Rouge was seated at the dining table, sipping a mug of coffee and looking over what seemed to be a blueprint. Tails noticed she was still dressed in her outfit from the previous night - and it looked like she had slept in it.

"Morning, sweetie," Rouge said without looking up. "How'd you sleep?"

"Better than I usually do, that's for sure." Tails took a seat across from her and pulled out his ID to order up some food. "I think that's the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in, actually."

"Don't get too used to it." She finally looked up at him with a wry smirk. "You'll have to sleep in your own bed next time."

Tails froze in confusion. "What?"

"Didn't notice that you were sleeping in my room, huh?"

Tails' nervous glance at the door he'd just exited revealed that it did indeed lead to Rouge's bedroom. And, if that wasn't mortifying enough, he also saw the pillows and blankets on the couch. He groaned and buried his face in his hands.

"Oh, don't be too upset. The couch is actually pretty comfortable."

"Yeah, but-"

"Tails." Her tone brokered no argument. "It's my fault, okay? I was literally steering you around last night." Her tone softened into reassurance. "It's alright. Really."

"Well… if you're sure."

"Sure I'm sure." She got up, gathering her papers and dishes. "You remember how to get around, right?"

"Yeah, the warp nodes."

"Great. I've gotta go freshen up and run some errands," she said as she deposited her dishes in the kitchen and walked over to her room. "I'll come visit later, okay?"

"Sounds good!"

* * *

When Tails summoned the Warp Ring, he discovered that the hallway to Maintenance proper was rather busy: forklifts and haulers were going every which way, moving crates in and heading out empty. Tails stepped through the portal and scooted along the wall towards the guard station, trying to make himself as unobtrusive as possible. When he drew closer, he noticed that Bruno was there as well - arms crossed and staring down the deliverymen with a stern expression.

"Mornin', Misser Prower," Bruno said as Tails approached, sparing him a glance and a nod of acknowledgement before returning to his vigil. "Got'cher ID on you?"

"Yes sir!"

"Good lad. Get the ser'jant to scan 'er and you can be on your way."

Tails could tell that the massive goat wasn't in the mood for a conversation, so he waited quietly for a break in the traffic and then stepped by. The guards were arranged in a double row across the lane with wispons in hand, and he recognized the one that wore chevrons on his uniform insignia. "Good morning, Sergeant Rodney!"

Some of the other guards laughed while the sergeant sighed and rubbed his eyes. "You're killing me, kid. I'm not Rodney, and before you ask, I'm not his brother, either."

"Y'sure, sarge?" another guard snickered. "You know what people say, y'all look identical!"

"And your ASS is going to look identical to your FACE if you don't put a sock in it, Nelson!" the sergeant shot back.

"Ser'jant Preez!" Bruno bellowed without turning.

"Ah. Yes, sir?"

"Language." 

"Right, sir. Sorry, sir." The sergeant coughed into his fist to cover his embarrassment. "Anyway. Sergeant Samuel Preez, at your service. ID please."

Tails handed him the ID, which Sgt. Preez held up to a blinking wristband. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it. You just look-"

"Very similar." Sgt. Preez gave a pointed look. "I've heard." He heaved an exasperated sigh and went back to examining the ID while it was scanned. "No relation whatsoever, though. What're the odds, right?" The wristband blinked green, and he handed the ID back to Tails. "Anyway. Last of the deliveries are coming in, so please move along."

The guards broke ranks for Tails to pass through, so he did. When he entered Maintenance itself, he noticed that most of the deliveries had been placed near his workspace, but he didn't take the time to ponder it - he was too busy planning steps to achieve his goal of having a set of fully functional mech legs by the end of the day. While he considered his options, he went about unpacking and sorting the tools and parts he brought from his lab so he could get working at full efficiency.

Some ten minutes after the last delivery had been made, Tails was visited by Bruno and Sgt. Preez. "Mornin' again, Misser Prower. I do 'pologize for being short earlier, I was busy makin' sure them delivery boys weren't up to no foolishness."

"That's okay. And good morning to you too!" Tails set down his tools to give the visitors his undivided attention.

"Than'yeh. So, ehh." Bruno tilted to one side as he examined Tails' progress on the mech, obviously unsure of what he was looking at. "What'cher workin' on, there?"

"A set of legs for the mech that I'm rebuilding. Well, maybe rebuilding isn't the right word." Tails scratched his head. "I dunno if it counts as rebuilding if there's nothing left of the original but spare parts."

"Well, you got plenty of parts to work with now, spare or otherwise." Bruno slapped one of the crates. "As yeh can see, Miss Rooj' placed a couple orders for yeh last night."

"Wait. These are all for me?"

Bruno blinked. "Why, sure. Everythin' down here is. Miss Rooj' told yeh that Maintenance is yours to use, didn't she?"

"Yeah, but. I thought she meant that I could WORK in it, not… HAVE it. What about Club Rouge's engineers?"

"Kiddo, all we got on the payroll are techies to keep the slots runnin', an' that don't take up no space down here. Most of the time the slots get fixt right where they are, and if the damage is too bad for that, we just replace 'em. Only traffic Maintenance usually gets are the Guard'bos comin' down for a nap."

"I… wow, okay. Jeez."

Bruno smirked. "Startin' to see how much Miss Rooj' gave yeh, huh?"

"Yeah, for sure."

"She's a sweet lady, that one. Anyway, on'ta business. I was gonna teach ya how to use yer ID and whatsuch, but it seems like Miss Rooj' and the lil' bit of delivery nonsense already covered that."

"Yeah, she showed me how to use a couple of the functions. I'm pretty sure I can figure out the rest as I go along."

"Good. Second thing is the most important rule of workin' here in Club Rooj'." Bruno's expression suddenly turned intensely serious, and he leaned forward crossed arms. "If you think there's trouble, do NOT hesitate to call it in."

Tails blinked. "Um. Okay?"

"Security is real, real, real important around here." Bruno straightened up, but his arms remained crossed. "I know you're a big-shot hero that's saved the world a couple times, but I cannot stress this enough: if something feels off, call it in. If someone is acting weird, call it in. If you see a shadow out of place, call it in. If you hear a noise that spooks ya, CALL IT IN." He wagged a finger at Tails. "No call is EVER a waste of time, ya get me?"

"I, uh. Yeah, I get you."

"No, you don't, and you ain't gonna until you've been through hell 'cause someone got taken hostage 'cause they thought they could handle it all by their lonesome." Sgt. Preez coughed delicately, drawing a glare from Bruno. After a moment, Bruno's rough expression softened, and he turned back to Tails with a sigh. "Listen, Misser Prower. Tails. There's lots of very special stuff here - some of it valuable, some of it dangerous, most of it both - and our job is to keep it out of the wrong hands. Bes' way to do that is to follow protocol. We got the manpower to look into everything, no matter how small, so if you see something even a little bit suspicious…"

"Call it in!" Tails gave a mock salute.

Bruno chuckled, visibly relaxing. "Wonnerful. And that goes for askin' for help as well - if you need a hand or if there's something you need that you ain't got, just ring us up and we'll get it to yeh."

"Actually, I was going to ask about that - I could use some help getting these crates unpacked."

"Oh? An' what would that involve?"

"Umm, mostly just putting stuff away. The crates have inventory lists, so it won't be hard to figure out, it's just a lot of heavy lifting."

"Oh, the liftin' is no problem. But inventory lists? Gee, that's big readin'." Bruno smirked and turned towards Sgt. Preez. "Ser'jant, you got any smart fellas that could handle such strenuous mental exercise?"

Sgt. Preez chuckled. "Yeah, I know a few - real wise guys, they could handle it easy."

"How many there, ser'jant?"

"Mmmm. 'Bout ten, sir."

"Ten! Why, I'm sure that's plenty." Bruno turned to Tails. "How 'bout it, son? Ten sets of extra hands to help yeh get sorted sound good to you?"

"Yeah, that'd be excellent!"

"Lovely. Ser'jant, go rustle up that group of big-brains and get 'em over here - I'm sure Misser Prower is right eager to get his garage in order."

"Yes, sir!" Sgt. Preez saluted and hustled off.

Bruno watched Preez leave with a half-smile. Once he was out of earshot, Tails asked "So... what was that about?"

"The ser'jant has a few knuckleheads in his squad with dis'plinary issues, and I like to solve those kinds'a problems with extra duty - folks is less likely to be bitter about gettin' punished if they're still getting paid the same." Bruno shrugged. "Anyway, how are you holding up? You think you're gonna settle in alright?"

"Sure, but, I mean-" Tails laughed a little. "There's SO MUCH here. I'm not worried about settling in, I'm worried that I'm not gonna want to leave once I do!"

Bruno chuckled. "Well, that's something you'd have to discuss with Miss Rooj', but you got my blessing as long as yeh behave. Anyhow, I need to get back to it. You give me a ring if any of Preez's boys need an attitude adjustment, y'hear?"

"Yes sir!" Tails' salute was much more convincing this time.

"Attaboy. See you around, Misser Prower."

* * *

Rouge enjoyed taking the freight elevator; it was rarely used and fairly slow, which made it the perfect opportunity to steal some time to herself. In truth, she relished any time she could let her guard down, even if it was only for a few moments - and especially if it was after having to deal with her handlers. She was getting tired of telling them to do their jobs, and she was very heavily considering taking an 'unauthorized vacation' until they picked up the slack. If only the other operatives had listened to her about forming a union.

Rouge's daydreams of collective bargaining were interrupted by the elevator coming to a stop. The doors slid open to reveal that the Maintenance guard post was at half-strength - though still at full attention, and with every available wispon pointed at her. "You catch the game last night?" Sgt. Preez called.

"It was a real humdinger," she replied as she strode forward. "What's with the headcount, Sammy?"

Sgt. Preez chuckled as the guards holstered their weapons. "Your guest needed some crates unpacked, so I lent a few hands at the Commander's suggestion."

"Mm." Rouge examined the guards that remained at the post, noting that the absences corresponded with the Sergeant's recommendations for performance improvement plans. "I'm sure your volunteers have nothing in common."

"Absolutely nothing, ma'am. Picked completely at random."

"Glad to hear it." She brushed up against him as she passed. "When you get off, drinks are on me. Have a good afternoon, boys."

"You too, ma'am!"

She left the guards to discuss their evening plans and continued down the hallway. The closer she got to Maintenance, the louder the sounds of heavy machinery got - and somewhere in there, she heard what sounded like cheering. Actually, that didn't sound like cheering, that WAS cheering. What in the world? She turned the corner and froze.

Maintenance was unrecognizable. 

Most of the workbenches had been moved or stacked to clear out space in the middle of the shop floor, and the ceiling-mounted cranes left chains and hooks dangling like vines in a jungle. Tools covered almost every available surface - some scattered haphazardly, some neatly sorted - and there was a pile of guard uniform jackets stacked on an empty crate. Gathered around the clearing were Preez's guards, all streaked with grease or soaked with sweat, loudly cheering on a spectacle that could only be described as a heavy mech performing a strongman routine. 

The groans and wails of bending metal reverberated throughout the room as massive mechanical hands twisted a bundle of rebar until the ends touched, prompting a fresh wave of enthusiasm and applause from the crowd that ringed the clearing. Its demonstration complete, the mech dropped the bundle with a cacophonous clatter and struck a pose while the cockpit hatch popped open: out climbed Tails, smeared with oil and grinning broadly. He hopped down to his audience, gathering high-fives and congratulations, and they were so absorbed with the goings-on that they didn't notice Rouge until she was nearly on top of them.

Rouge had considered many different conversation starters, but decided to opt for a simple "Wow." Several of the guards panicked when they saw her - some froze where they stood, some snapped to attention and saluted, some suddenly had very interesting things to look at that were nowhere near her. "I leave you alone for four hours and you build a giant robot in my basement."

"Sorry, couldn't help it!" Tails said, laughing. "Those parts you ordered were perfect! Well, mostly perfect. We had to do a little bit of tweaking, but it worked out in the end."

"I can tell." She looked at one of the few guards who had kept their cool - Nelson, if she recalled correctly. "Drinks are on me when you get off your shift, by the way."

"AWESOME! You're the best, boss!"

"I know." She turned back to Tails. "So, is this thing ready to go?"

"Yep! That was the last test, all we've gotta do is get it to Emerald Town."

"Figures. You should get cleaned up, then." Tails responded with a nod and trotted off, and Rouge took the opportunity to make a call. She snapped her fingers and stuck out her pinky finger and thumb, activating the communication app in her suit. "Oh, Bruno?"

The goat's response came a few seconds later. "Yes'm?"

"Get a heavy flatbed on the service lift, we're ready to go to Emerald Town."

"Wh- Already?!"

"Bye, Bruno." She balled her hand into a fist, terminating the call.

"Um, I don't need a ride." Tails had returned, his face still wet from the towel that was draped across his neck that he had used to clean himself up. "I can just walk it there."

"Sweetie, it's the day after an Eggman attack," Rouge said gently. "I don't think that people would react well to a giant robot walking through the streets."

"That's true." Tails rubbed his shoulder in embarrassment.

"Cheer up, hon. I've got your back." She tussled his hair, causing him to blush and giggle. "Let's get this thing to the service lift. The sooner it's loaded, the sooner we can get to Emerald Town."


	6. [In Progress]

**[There's still a bit to go before we reach the point where Hammer Down happens.]**

**[Such is life when you publish chapters about major story events in advance.]**


	7. Hammer Down

The buzz of an incoming call from the emergency line broke Rouge’s concentration, pulling her attention away from the blueprints she was annotating for her upcoming assignment. Her brow furrowed in annoyance, she keyed the console on her desk and was met with a holographic portrait of her head of security. "Go ahead, Bruno."

"A thousan’ pardons, mem. There’s a little lady here on the shortlist what says she needs to see yeh righ’way, name’a Amy Rose."

"Great," she muttered. "Have you asked her if it can wait?"

"Yessem, she insis- mem, please, I’m on the phone with Miss Rooj’ right now. Please, mem? Than’yeh. Miss Rooj’, she’s said she won’t leave ‘til she sees you an’ she’s makin’ an awful scene pacin’ around with a big ol' hammer."

"Ugh." Rouge rolled her eyes involuntarily. "Send her up, plus one."

"Yessem, righ’way." A faint clink followed, signalling that Bruno had set down the phone. Rouge had finished returning her mission intel into its folder when the billy goat picked up the call again. "Eh, mem?"

"Yes, Bruno?"

"I sent her with Guard’bo Ken, they’re on the way now."

"Thank you, Bruno."

"Mem, pardon me for askin’, but will everythin’ be alright? Miss Rose was awful mad, an’ that hammer means business."

"It’ll be fine, I can handle her on my own if it comes to that. Plus, Ken will be here, and he’s one of the Guard Robos that Tails worked on." She paused after stashing her briefing file in her desk. "Still, it might be best to put everyone on standby, just in case."

"As ye says, mem. We’ll be ready if’n you need us." 

The call ended, Rouge went back to considering the blueprints. After realizing that she couldn’t continue working on them because she had lost track of what she had last annotated, she set them aside with a frustrated sigh. Almost on cue, a series of taps on the door signalled the arrival of company.

"[ᴍɪss ʀᴏᴜɢᴇ], ᴀ [ᴍɪss ᴀᴍʏ] ɪs ʜᴇʀᴇ ᴛᴏ sᴇᴇ ʏᴏᴜ," a distinctly artificial voice announced from beyond the door. 

"Show her in, please."

The door opened to reveal a fuming Amy Rose and a very conspicuous Piko-Piko Hammer. "Rouge," she said, her greeting dripping with venom.

"Hello, Amy." Rouge responded with a polite smile.

Amy stomped into the office with both hands firmly grasping her weapon, stopping short of the desk and glaring menacingly. Ken’s massive bulk leaned into view from behind the open door. "[ᴍɪss ʀᴏᴜɢᴇ], ɪ ᴡɪʟʟ ʀᴇᴍᴀɪɴ ɴᴇᴀʀʙʏ ɪɴ ᴄᴀsᴇ ɪ ᴀᴍ ɴᴇᴇᴅᴇᴅ."

"Thank you, darling. I’ll let you know."

After the door had closed and the Guard Robo’s heavy footsteps crossed the hall, Rouge placed her folded hands on her desk. "Well, what can I do for you?"

"You can get up so I beat you to a pulp," Amy snarled. "Tails?! REALLY?!"

Rouge groaned and squeezed the bridge of her nose. "I see. Can we talk about this?"

"What is there to talk about?" Amy demanded with a scowl, brandishing her hammer.

"Maybe how you've NEVER won a fight with me," Rouge snapped. "Or maybe how you're on my turf, and I wouldn't have to lift a finger to throw you out." She glared at Amy for a tense moment, then heaved a great sigh and slumped in her chair. "Or maybe we could talk about how I don't want to fight because Tails would be upset," she said, sounding utterly defeated. When Amy responded with bewildered silence, Rouge continued: "Listen, I'll make you a deal. If I can't convince you that everything is on the up and up, I leave Tails alone. Okay?"

"... That's it? No catch?"

"That's it. If I don’t get your blessing, I tell him we should just be friends and that’s the end of it."

Amy considered it for several long moments before hesitantly putting her hammer away. "Alright. But I'm going to hold you to that."

"That's fine," Rouge said with no small amount of relief in her voice, motioning for Amy to take a seat. "I've needed to figure out what I'm doing anyway."

"What do you mean?" Amy asked as she sat down.

"I didn't plan for any of this," Rouge said with a halfhearted shrug. "If I'm being honest, Tails and me…" She looked away. "... just kinda happened."

Amy's bracelets clinked against each other as she crossed her arms. "I have a hard time believing that."

"And THAT," Rouge snapped as she turned back towards Amy with a vicious glare, pointing an accusatory finger towards the pink hedgehog, "is part of why it happened!"

"What?" Amy was taken aback by Rouge’s sudden intensity.

"It's always 'oh, it's Rouge, she's probably up to something'. You guys are always assuming I have a plan, or a scheme, or an angle." Rouge stood, slamming her palms on her desk and leaning forward. "Do you know how it makes me feel when the closest things I have to friends treat me like that all the time? God, I bet you don't even know what Knuckles said when he invited me to Sonic's birthday party!"

"I… no, he… didn't mention."

"‘You should come so I know the Master Emerald is safe while I'm at the party, ha ha.’"

Amy shifted uncomfortably in her chair as Rouge stared her down, eventually losing the will to maintain eye contact and opting to stare at the floor in front of her seat. "He... probably meant it as a joke?"

"No." Rouge flopped into her chair unceremoniously, sagging so low that her eyes were barely visible above the desk. "You and I both know he was serious and that was his way of being polite about it."

Several moments of awkward silence passed before Amy asked, "So… what does this have to do with Tails?"

"It doesn't. That's the point."

"... Huh?"

"Tails doesn't treat me like that. He's never once tried to make fun of my job, or joke that I'm untrustworthy. He…" Rouge trailed off for a moment, then frowned and sighed in frustration. "He treats me like a person, and apparently I'm so desperate that not being teased all the time is all it took for me to catch feelings for him." Her frown was replaced by a wan smile. "But he makes me happy, and I make him happy, so I guess being desperate isn't all that bad."

"You make him happy?" Amy utterly failed to keep the apprehension out of her voice. "What does that mean?"

"Kinda the same thing he does for me," Rouge said as she sat up, leaning over to rest her chin on her palm. "He's talked about how he's usually ‘the little brother being treated with kid gloves’ or ‘the engineer that nobody even tries to understand’, and how both options suck." She smiled wistfully and chuckled a little. "You should’ve seen how flustered he was when I offered to hang out with him in Maintenance the first time; it was like I asked him out on his first date. I guess that’s what it was, in retrospect."

"Have you guys… well, I mean. If it was a date." 

"Not in the way you're thinking. Did you know that he works himself to sleep? He'll just keep going until he gets tired and then curl up wherever he is. I saw him grab a blanket from his bag and I told him ‘no guest of mine is going to sleep in a workshop,’ so I took him to bed and gave him a goodnight kiss once he was settled in." She paused and then quickly added; "And I slept on the couch, before you panic." Amy had taken up studying the floor again, so Rouge continued. "Really though, I don’t do anything crazy, I just spend time with him. All he wants is to be treated like an equal."

"But you’re NOT, though!" Amy blurted, then winced in apprehension of Rouge’s retort. When she looked up to see that Rouge was waiting for an explanation (although, with a very unimpressed expression), Amy tried again. "I mean. Doesn’t it bother you how… different you guys are?" When Rouge only blinked in response, Amy balled her hands into fists at the hem of her dress and shouted "I mean his age, okay?! I was trying to be nice about it, but isn't it weird that you’re ten years older than him?!"

Rouge’s brows shot up. "Wait. How old do you think Tails is?"

Caught off-guard by the question, Amy deflated. "I, uh. He’s eight, isn’t he?"

"Oh, honey," Rouge laughed, "he’s a year older than you."

"WHAT? When I asked Sonic, he said Tails was eight!"

"Yeah, when they MET. Jeez, now I understand why you were so ready to fight." After stifling her laughter and politely averting her eyes so Amy could stew in her embarrassment without being watched, Rouge continued: "Anyway, yes. While the gap isn’t as big as you thought, it does bother me - I’ve got five years on him, and I admit that the idea of that makes me uncomfortable."

"Well… if it bothers you, why not pursue someone else?" Amy offered hopefully.

Rouge gave Amy a pointed look. "Like who?"

"Maybe Knuckles?" Rouge scoffed in response, but Amy pressed on. "I mean, he did invite you, and you two seemed to be getting along!"

"I was being polite because I didn’t want to ruin the party. Besides, even if we decided to forgive the most backhanded invitation the world has ever heard, Knuckles is an idiot."

"Oh come on, he’s not that bad."

"Oh yeah?" Rouge said, crossing her arms. "Do you remember Operation Big Wave, Amy? Do you recall how he committed to a plan that he thought up in a minute and a half that destroyed eighty percent of our forces and left the other twenty percent missing?" 

"... Yes." Amy said in a small voice, suddenly inspecting the floor again. "I remember."

"And do you remember what he had to say about that?"

"... ‘Our Big Wave has washed out’."

"Yeah. Not a retreat order, not a mote of regret, a quip that took him a full minute to think up. Amy, Knuckles is DUMB. I’m not saying that to be mean, I’m saying he’s seriously stupid. The only reason he’s a good guardian of the Master Emerald is because he doesn’t have room in his head for anything else." Rouge took a moment to compose herself before continuing. "Listen. Knuckles is nice enough, and handsome in a hunky kind of way, and sometimes it’s kinda cute how simple he is, but I could never stand being with someone who is THAT much of a meathead. Half the time I think the only reason he remembers me is because I joked about stealing the Master Emerald once."

"Okay, well," Amy said, looking up again and spreading her hands in a pleading gesture. "What about Shadow?"

"No way. When he’s not brooding about Sonic being better than him at something, he’s brooding about his dead sister or girlfriend or whatever Maria was." Rouge leaned back, looking at the ceiling. "I care about Shadow, but I DEFINITELY don’t have those kinds of feelings for him. I have enough baggage as it is, I don’t need an extra mountain of it."

"And the age difference is baggage you can handle?"

Rouge shot Amy an annoyed glance, but eased up when she realized that the question was genuine. "Yeah, I guess. I mean, when I THINK about it, it feels weird. But then, when I’m with him, it just…" She went back to facing the ceiling, covering her face with her hands. "I just FORGET, you know? He’s so much more mature than the other boys that it doesn’t even register that he’s three years younger than them. When we’re together, all I can think of is…" She shrugged and her arms fell to her sides. "... how much I love to see him smile."

Amy sighed wistfully. "Yeah. I get that."

They sat in silence for many moments, Rouge staring at the ceiling and Amy quietly fiddling with the hem of her skirt while she processed everything they’d talked about. Suddenly, something occurred to her. "Hey, Rouge."

"Hm?"

"What did you mean earlier, when you said that you had to figure out what you’re doing?"

"Well, it’s like I said - Tails and me just kinda happened," Rouge answered as she sat up. "I invited him over because Eggman trashed his place, and I figured it’d at least be a start towards repaying him for saving me during the fight. I didn’t really think about the long-term prospects of him staying here, or what to do if I needed him to leave." She sighed and rubbed her forehead. "And since I’ve been happily single for a while, I DEFINITELY didn’t think about how my feelings might shift my priorities."

"How have they changed?"

"Right now…" Rouge stared at nothing as she searched for the right words. "All I care about is doing right by Tails."

"Yeah?" Amy said, her tone stern and her arms crossed. "And what if doing right by Tails means breaking up with him because I don’t think you’re good for him?"

The question hit Rouge harder than she expected it to. Unable to face Amy, she looked downwards and mumbled a dejected "Yeah."

After a moment of silence, the pink hedgehog suddenly stood, hands on her hips. "I’ve made a decision," Amy announced.

"Yeah?" Rouge asked, obviously riddled with anxiety.

"I’m going to reserve judgement."

Rouge blinked, uncertainty plainly plastered across her face. "What... does that mean?"

"It means that you can keep it up, for now. But!" Amy jabbed a finger towards Rouge. "I don’t know if I trust you yet."

Rouge laughed bitterly. "I pour my heart out and that’s the best I get?"

"You got that BECAUSE you poured your heart out," Amy said, wagging a finger at Rouge. "When you said that I could decide, I thought there was no way you could convince me. But, then..." Amy looked away in shame, rubbing her arm. "But then I realized how unfair we’ve been to you, and how unfair we’ve been to Tails, and... a couple other things."

"Like how old Tails actually is?" Rouge said with a smirk.

"Listen, he’s really short, okay?" Amy said, laughing with embarrassment. "It’s an easy mistake to make."

"Oh, so it’s like mistaking Shadow for Sonic?"

Amy groaned and covered her face. "Heard about that one, huh?"

"And Silver."

"I’m never going to live that down."

"Probably not."

"Really, though." Amy composed herself, putting her hands on her hips again. "I don’t feel great about this. Pretty much everything about it gives me a bad feeling, in fact. But… I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt. After everything you’ve told me, you deserve that much."

"So you’re going to wait and see if I screw up, then."

"Yes. And if you do... well." Amy’s tone turned deadly serious and her fists balled at her sides. "You may be able to take me in a fight, but I’m not the only one who cares about Tails."

"I’m SO glad I have your vote of confidence."

"I mean it, Rouge. None of us would ever trust you again, and I’m pretty sure that Sonic and Knuckles would be mad enough to teach you a lesson or two."

"You know, it’s actually kind of sweet how you threaten so much on his behalf."

"Do you think I’m joking?"

"Not at all. That’s why it’s sweet."

Amy smiled a little in spite of herself. "Alright, then. In that case…" Her bravado spent, Amy ran her fingers through her hair. "Keep me posted. Please? The last thing I want to do is sabotage things because I made Tails anxious by asking too many questions about how things are going with you two."

"Yeah, I can do that." Rouge stood and stretched. "Anyway. I’d show you out, but I’ve got to get back to work."

"Yeah, sure. Good luck with work," Amy said as she walked into the hallway, closing the door behind her. Rouge waited until the heavy footsteps of Amy’s escort had faded completely before allowing herself to collapse into her chair.

"What have I gotten myself into?"


End file.
